Epiroc Celebrates 25 Years of Pit Viper Drill Rig and a Decade of Autonomy

Epiroc’s Pit Viper, the company’s largest surface blasthole drill rig, is celebrating 25 years in operation and 10 years of autonomous deployment. According to Epiroc, automation has significantly improved productivity, efficiency, and sustainability in drilling operations.

Over the past decade, Pit Viper rigs operating autonomously have drilled more than 90 million meters. On average, autonomous mode increases utilisation by 17% compared to manual operation.

Automation has also delivered notable improvements in precision. The depth accuracy of drilled holes has increased by an average of 85%, preventing over 8 million meters of overdrilling. Spatial accuracy has improved by 60%, further optimising blasting results.

With unmanned operations, safety has been enhanced by removing personnel from hazardous zones. The environmental impact has also been reduced. Automated operations have saved approximately 85 million litres of fuel and cut CO2 emissions by around 225,000 tons, equivalent to the carbon capture of over 10 million trees or removing 50,000 passenger cars from roads for a year.

“The iconic Pit Viper rig has set the standard for a quarter of a century when it comes to powerful surface drilling, and for a decade when it comes to autonomous operations.”

Says Helena Hedblom, Epiroc’s President and CEO.

“Customers trust the reliable Pit Viper because it delivers safety, productivity and energy
efficiency. With continuous upgrades, the rigs keep getting better, regardless of their age.”

Over the past decade, Epiroc’s autonomous Pit Viper drill rigs have progressively reshaped drilling operations across open-pit mining sites. Originally designed with high mobility and flexibility in mind, the rigs transitioned from manual to automated control, and eventually to fully autonomous operation. The integration of onboard computing systems and remote control capabilities drove this shift.

The move toward autonomy began with a pilot project involving two Pit Viper 271 rigs at an iron ore mine in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. Since then, autonomous models from the Pit Viper series have been adopted at dozens of mining sites globally.

Since the introduction of the Automatic Bit Changer (ABC) in 2022, over 7,000 tricone drill bits have been replaced without manual intervention. Operations, now, can be monitored and controlled from remote centres located hundreds or even thousands of kilometres away.

With 25 years of service and a decade of autonomous drilling, the Pit Viper has evolved into a core tool for large-scale surface mining. As the demand for safer, more efficient, and lower-emission operations grows, its role is set to remain central in the industry’s transition toward fully digitalised mining.

Epiroc Celebrates 25 Years of Pit Viper Drill Rig and a Decade of Autonomy published on The HeavyQuip Magazine.